Here’s the match report from Wellington.
Same again for Wales, then. They played very, very well and went toe to toe with the All Blacks for 50 minutes before being blitzed. Playing like New Zealand is one thing; doing it for as long as them is quite another. Wales deserve credit for the way they finished the match, even if there was the tiniest smidgen of good fortune about Jonathan Davies’s score, but in truth they were dead and buried by then.
That’s all from me. Many thanks for all the emails, tweets and suchlike. Paul Connolly is in Australia and he’s yer man for the second Test between the Wallabies and England, as Eddie Jones’s men look to wrap up a series victory. Do join hi. Bye!
Full-time: New Zealand 36-22 Wales
Crotty goes down the right in the 22 and looks to have bundled his way over in the corner, but the TMO confirms his boot was just in touch.
80 min New Zealand pick and go from the scrum, with Crotty carrying it up over the 22. Moriarty gives away the penalty for playing the half-back without the ball as the hooter goes so we play advantage.
79 min It’s too late for Wales but this has been an excellent response to the blitz in the first 20 minutes of this half. They run back from the restart and go down the left, but there’s a knock on 12 metres from halfway and New Zealand have the scrum. Time for one more try?
Try! (J Davies 77) New Zealand 36-22 Wales
Coles and Warburton are off, Harris and Jenkins on respectively. Wales knock it on at the restart but, at the moment Tamanivalu tries a too-cute chip that goes straight into the hands of Roberts, the referee calls advantage over. The Quins man goes flying clear and offloads to Priestland when caught by Barrett. He passes to Jon Davies, who hands off Dagg fearsomely and goes over! Priestland hooks the kick.
Conversion (Priestland 75) New Zealand 36-17 Wales
Priestland is on for Biggar and his first act is to nail a tough conversion from very wide on the right.
Try! (L Williams 74) New Zealand 36-15 Wales
This is a lovely line from the wing. Wales had gone all the way back to their own half but Williams came off his wing and picked a perfect angle to carve his way through the back line and beat Dagg in a foot race.
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73 min The 11th phase though sees them up to the 22 on the left. The 13th sees a loose pass behind Faletau take play back to the 10 metre line.
72 min Slow phase play now from the Welsh, which is probably a good idea given what we’ve seen the All Blacks do when the game opens up. Nine, 10 phases now but they remain a good 30 metres out.
71 min Davies takes it on the Welsh 10 metre line and Webb sends it out to the backs, who go left. A few phases then the scrum-half snipes and gets his side midway into the New Zealand half.
70 min Left and Tamanivalu dances through the defence. He goes inside to Kaino but he’s crossing with Perenara. Biggar clears to touch as Tuipulotu replaces Retallick.
69 min Patchell runs Barrett’s clearance back over halfway and Wales swing it left. Through the phases we go before a nice offload from Biggar allows Amos past his man but he’s turned and New Zealand get it wide to Smith. Moriarty makes an important tackle but you feel a try is coming soon.
Conversion (Barrett 68) New Zealand 36-10 Wales
Game over, obviously.
What. A. Try. (A Savea 66) New Zealand 34-10 Wales
Crotty stabs a kick across to Tamanivalu on his own 22. The centre gives it inside to Naholo who streaks past Liam Williams and gives it to Coles to take on over halfway. The hooker offloads to the replacement flanker and, to the crowd’s delight, he has too much pace for Patchell.
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66 min Aaron Smith’s day is down: he’s on for Perenara and Wales have lost yet another lineout. New Zealand go right...
65 min Biggar puts it in the corner on the right.
64 min Biggar puts it into touch a few metres inside the 22, on the right. Bradley Davies takes and they set the driving maul but’s crabbing. They get advantage when New Zealand drag it down so Biggar goes over the top, but Aaron Smith has it. Back we go for the penalty.
63 min Wales go wide early from the scrum and Patchell is over the 10 metre line before Tamanivalu makes the tackle. Liam Williams grubbers ahead and gets the penalty when Naholo blocks his chase.
62 min Wales make a couple more changes: Owens and Charteris replaced by Baldwin and Bradley Davies. Aaron Smith kicks high from the restart and Ben Smith gives chase, but is called for a knock-on. Harsh on the wing, that, as it seemed to come off of Patchell. Wales could do with a break, in fairness.
61 min Beauden Barrett is human after all: he hooks his touchline conversion wide.
Try! (Naholo 60) New Zealand 29-10 Wales
Evans is on for Jenkins. It makes no difference as Read pops it basketball style to Aaron Smith, who sends it left for Naholo to dot down. Beautifully simple.
“It’s ok Matt, at least you’ll always have Thursday,” writes Scotsman Simon McMahon. “Oops, sorry. That was below the belt. I recommend the Boulevardier.”
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59 min Barrett chips across to the right and Smith volleys it into the 22 for Tamanivalu to chase. Faletau is there and Wales clear but back comes Naholo through the middle. New Zealand drive up to within five, where Lee goes offside and concedes the penalty. Dane Coles tells his captain he fancies a scrum here.
58 min Taken in on halfway but the maul is going backwards and Roberts, who is dripping blood from underneath the eye now, gets in the way of Patchell and that’s a scrum for accidental offside. Ardie Savea comes on for his second cap, in place of Cane, much to the delight of the fans.
57 min That’s two tries in four minutes from the All Blacks. Aaron Smith goes high from the restart and Naholo gets there ahead of Patchell. The All Black is taken out but it’s a fair challenge for the ball and thus Wales get a lineout as it goes loose into touch.
Try & conversion! (Barrett 56) New Zealand 24-10 Wales
Wales are creaking at the scrum now. The front row is stood up but New Zealand don’t need the advantage: Read gives it to Smith who shuffles inside and gives it to Barrett. He straightens and is dragged down, but stretches to dot down under the posts!
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54 min Remember when I said this match was slower? Ha! Read takes the restart and Aaron Smith bursts round the corner of the ruck up towards halfway. He kicks ahead and Biggar goes back, but Read and Whitelock are there to wrap him up five metres out. The ball’s not coming back and New Zealand get the five metre scrum! Crockett on for Moody. This is astonishing attacking rugby.
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Conversion (Barrett 53) New Zealand 17-10 Wales
From wide on the right, Barrett converts the try he made.
Try! (B Smith 52) New Zealand 15-10 Wales
It’s a poor lineout and New Zealand move it inside. Barrett goes to second receiver and fixes both Roberts and Davies with a dummy before sending it wide to Smith, who uses his pace to streak to the corner from 40 metres. What a match this is now.
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50 min Now it’s Barret’s turn to float the pass and Coles makes good ground down the left again. Back inside and Barrett glides through a gap, but when he’s tackled Moriarty goes in and steals it brilliantly allowing Biggar to clear. Back come New Zealand through Naholo and Dagg into space, in the 22 but when it goes back inside Warburton makes the interception and streaks clear! His pass goes behind Faletau and Naholo runs again, but is taken into touch.
49 min New Zealand scrum on halfway then, five in from touch. Again it’s solid and Tamanivalu sends a long pass out wide to Ben Smith.
More of 48 min From a couple of metres outside his 22 and tight to his right touchline, Biggar kicks the penalty to touch on halfway. Jones takes it at the front and pops it back to Owens, but the pass is forwards.
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48 min With the advantage at the breakdown, Barrett sends a lovely cross-kick to the left. Naholo and Liam Williams both go for it and the the former is nowhere near it. He takes Williams out in the air and both men are down and hurt. It’s unintentional but, as Peyper says, unrealistic for the All Black to compete for the ball and so Wales get the penalty, and no more as Williams landed on his leg. Good decision that.
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47 min Solid scrum and Tamanivalu crashes it up the right.
46 min AWJ takes it and sets on the 10 metre line, whence Wales go through the phases. It’s loose though and Webb throws a wild ball forward, conceding the scrum back on their own 10 metre line. Charlie Faumuina, so impressive off the bench last week, is coming on for Owen Franks.
45 min Baldwin overthrows and Faletau takes it, but the ball goes loose and it’s hacked ahead by Crotty to the Welsh 10 metre line. Biggar kicks over the top into the 22 and Barrett clears to touch on the Kiwi 10 metre line.
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44 min From the scrum they go down the short side to Williams. The wing chips over the top but, from nowhere, Barrett comes flying through to gather it on the full and call the mark. Wonderfully read from the replacement fly-half, who sends the kick to touch five metres outside his 22.
43 min It’s Fekitoa who’s off. He picked up a nasty cut in the first minute in a big collision with Jamie Roberts.
42 min Now there’s space and Liam Williams goes hard into Tamanivalu, who is on at half-time. Recycled and then the replacement knocks on making the tackle. Not sure who’s gone off for New Zealand I’m afraid.
“That was, indeed, a great joke in your preamble,” writes Matt Dony, generously. “Unfortunately, at 08:00 on a Saturday morning, and involving the English translation of a relatively obscure Manics single, I feel it won’t get the audience it deserves. You’re clearly more Stewart Lee than Michael McIntyre. At this point last week, I was pretty confident. Been badly burned. I’m not expecting to be able to claim a cocktail from McMahon.”
41 min High again and again taken just outside the 22 by Dagg, who was probably New Zealand’s best player in the first half. Cleared long and Faletau takes it into contact before they go wide, with Roberts offering himself outside Liam Williams. Back inside and Wales have it on the 10 metre line.
Peeeep! Biggar gets us back under way.
Alun Wing Jones.
Wales very much deserve to be level. They haven’t been as efficient as New Zealand have in attack, true, but they’ve been the better side at the breakdown and the more disciplined in the set-piece. The All Blacks on the other hand have been woefully sloppy, making far too many mistakes both in the tight and in open play. Let’s see if Wales have another 40 in them this time. Back in 10.
Conversion (Biggar) & half-time: New Zealand 10-10 Wales
Biggar levels the scores with a touchline conversion!
Try! (Jones 40) New Zealand 10-8 Wales
New Zealand have committed too many men in desperate defence and Wales spot the space wide on the left. Davies sends a gorgeous long pass, wide to AWJ on the left and the lock crashes over!
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39 min Wales lineout right on the New Zealand 22 then and from it Davies surges through a midfield gap! Right they go and Williams slips to within five...
38 min Williams steps inside of Crotty and uses his pace to get up to the 22. Warburton carries on and they go down the short side but Patchell is demolished in the tackle by Naholo and Cane counterrucks brilliantly. Barrett thumps a clearance long into touch, but it was passed back into the 22.
37 min Read takes and Aaron Smith sends it infield to Kaino. He takes the contact and resets it nicely for the scrum-half to clear, but Wales come running back through Liam Williams. Jenkins drives on on midfield from the 10 metre line.
36 min Well well. It was kickable but Biggar goes to the corner. AWJ takes it and sets the drive... but it’s dragged into touch by the New Zealand pack. Brutally efficient defence, that.
35 min That’s a very strong scrum from New Zealand but Faletau comes away with it. Left they go and Patchell chips over the top, but Fekitoa reads it well and calls the mark. He kicks quickly to touch but Wales take the lineout quickly themselves. Biggar goes high and Fekitoa is penalised for blocking the chaser.
34 min AWJ takes it well under pressure. The ruck forms but the ball is going nowhere so Wales get the scrum, having taken it into the breakdown.
33 min We restart with a scrum and immediately Franks is penalised for dragging the scrum down. His feet were too far back and thus the front rows collapsed. Biggar to touch just outside the 22 on the right.
Now Cruden is taken off the pitch on the ambulance car to applause from both the players and the crowd.
They’re still trying to get Cruden on the stretcher. He’s conscious and talking to the medics but they are, understandably, being very careful.
It looks as though Franks drove Charteris back over the unfortunate fly-half, who rolled awkwardly under the big lock. The stretcher is on, sad to say.
Beauden Barrett replaces Cruden.
32 min Crotty returns the drop-out with ball in hand, up towards the 10 metre line. The slippery Naholo steps past a couple of tackles then Smith pops it inside to Kaino, but he’s turned over and Wales put width on the ball. Back right they come but Jaco Peyper has to stop the game as play was getting close to Aaron Cruden, who lying flat out on the floor with what looks like a neck injury.
31 min Biggar goes high and Dagg comes out to take nicely just outside his 22. Slow ball and Cane crashes it on, before Cruden boots it deep. Too deep, in fact as it rolls over the tryline and Patchell dots it down for a 22 drop-out. Jenkins returns for Evans.
Penalty (Cruden 30) New Zealand 10-3 Wales
From 15 out and dead in front, Cruden chips over the easy three points.
@DanLucas86 regarding milk in cocktails can't go wrong with a White Russian, The Dude! pic.twitter.com/O3KkGnRX8q
— John McEnerney (@MackerOnTheMed) June 18, 2016
29 min Cruden dummies the cross kick and jinks himself, stopped by a desperate tackle. Wales are on the ropes here as we go into a ninth phase. We’re going back for the penalty, which was for a high tackle by – I think – Roberts.
28 min At the 15th phase New Zealand get the penalty, not sure what for. They go quick again and Ben Smith makes ground down the right, into the Welsh 22. They recycle and Smith has another look, this time infield, making more ground towards the Welsh line. With 10 now and with the advantage.
27 min Biggar goes high and Patchell wins it, although Wales have made precisely no ground. Liam Williams has a dart but still nothing doing.
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26 min Scrappy lineout ball from Wales but Faletau comes through midfield and they work it right on the New Zealand 10 metre line. Rob Evans is on as a blood replacement for Jenkins, by the way. Amos is wrapped up by Fekitoa a few metres inside the New Zealand half. The tempo of this match has been much, much slower than last week.
25 min Biggar kicks the penalty to touch precisely on halfway. Charteris taps it down and, though they go backwards, Wales secure possession and Biggar chips over the top. Fekitoa sweeps it up and gives it left to Naholo, but the wing puts a poor ball out on the full.
24 min Charteris takes it and is played in the air by Retallick. Penalty, but first Gethin Jenkins is being sent to the touchline to have a cut above the eye fixed up.
23 min Whitelock goes high and takes the restart midway inside his own half. Aaron Smith puts up the box kick but Biggar takes well. Is there anyone better under the high ball in the northern hemisphere? Around 15 metres inside their own half Wales keep it tight before Jon Davies kicks deep, Dagg returning it though with an absolutely monstrous kick from inside his own 22, into touch on the left on the Welsh 22!
Conversion (Cruden 22) New Zealand 7-3 Wales
Easily knocked over. New Zealand have had one attack and taken 100% of the points available from it.
Try! (Dagg 20) New Zealand 5-3 Wales
Retallick takes and here comes the driving maul. Great work by Charteris to stop the maul gaining any momentum so Smith goes to his backs and Amos comes charging out looking for the interception. The line is dog-legged and Dagg, on his return to the team, surges over from 10 metres.
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19 min Williams is tackled well by Crotty and Biggar clears, but Naholo comes screaming back down the left touchline. He’s stopped 15 metres out, just, by Williams but Wales go off their feet at the breakdown and New Zealand get the penalty. Cruden knocks it into the corner.
18 min Patchell runs it back but is firmly stopped by a Moody-Whitelock duo on his own 10 metre line. Webb kicks high but Retallick takes well under pressure from Roberts just inside his own half. Aaron Smith kicks back.
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17 min Cruden restarts, Faletau takes in the 22 and Webb clears long with a great box-kick 10 metres into the New Zealand half. Whitelock takes the lineout and Kaino crashes into Biggar before Cruden kicks too long.
Penalty (Biggar 16) New Zealand 0-3 Wales
Lovely strike from Biggar, just to the left and a fair way out, straight through the posts and Wales have a just-about-deserved lead.
15 min Biggar thumps it up the left, finding touch five metres or so outside the New Zealand 22. Fekitoa returns to the field. AW Jones taps it back but it’s not clean ball and Webb, retreating to gather it, is caught. Moody holds on to his man in the tackle though and Biggar will get his first shot at goal from the 10 metre line. It’s windy out there.
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14 min New Zealand lineout midway inside the Wales half but they go offside when Read taps it down.
13 min Read runs the kick back over halfway before knocking on and Wales move it along the line, before Davies and Aaron Smith exchange kicks. Webb is offside at the kick and New Zelaand take it quickly, with Coles going at pace down the left touchline. Yet again Wales win the turnover inside their own half but Jon Davies wastes it by overcooking his clearance into touch, on the full.
12 min Read comes off the back and gets out the 22. It’s fired back to Cruden but he scuffs his kick down the middle and Patchell’s high return bounces before being taken by Tamanivalu. Kicked ahead and Liam Williams, moving across to full-back, calls the mark.
10 min Now it goes right with Patchell into the line and getting it out to Davies. Webb bursts round the short side inside the 22 and Retallick has to have his wits about him to make the try-saving tackle. Knocked on and New Zealand have the scrum.
9 min Into midfield from the lineout but it goes loose and Patchell does well to recover the ball. This is his first Test start and he’s not made a bad first impression despite being out of position.
8 min Kaino gets isolated in midfield thanks to a great tackle from Faletau and Wales get the penalty. Biggar finds touch on the right, near the All Blacks’ 10 metre line.
7 min All Black lineout on halfway. Naholo comes into midfield and uses his strength to barge over the 10 metre line and New Zealand carry it up towards the 22, Read making ground close to the right touchline. There’s a bit of crossing in midfield but it goes unnoticed by Peyper. Great defence from Jenkins, scragging Cane; that’s exactly why he’s in the team ahead of Evans.
6 min Wales are retaining the ball nicely but have lost ground. Patchell flicks it wide to Liam Williams, but he’s penalised for holding on on the floor and Cruden clears to touch down the New Zealand left.
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5 min Faletau picks up at the base of the scrum and charges down the blindside to the 22. Wales move it left and Davies isn’t held in the tackle by Dagg.
4 min New Zealand have two half-backs at the lineout and Wales get the free-kick, opting for the scrum. This is a very sloppy start from the home side. Interestingly* the packs are identical in weight: 901kg.
“Morning Dan,” begins Simon McMahon. “Lots of milk in John McEnerney’s house this morning. I find that Licor 43 goes very well with milk (has to be ice cold, touch of cinnamon helps too, no need for the Weetabix really). It’s the breakfast of champions. Cocktails on me if Wales get within 15 points.”
*Well.
3 min Loose ball at the breakdown and Cane picks up for New Zealand. Already Wales look tighter in defence, but as I say that Webb misses on. Another turnover though and Jon Davies stabs through one of those lovely grubbers of his, into touch on the Wales right five metres or so outside the 22.
2 min We’ve got an early blood replacement: Tamanivalu is on for Fekitoa, who cut his head in that collision with Roberts earlier. The Welshman is bleeding too but getting bandaged up. This time New Zealand form the maul from the lineout and Aaron Smith looks to grubber it through, but it’s blocked and Wales get the ball back on halfway.
1 min Biggar takes in his 22 and fires it down the right-hand touchline, into touch on the Welsh 10 metre line. Whitelock takes it and taps down then Fekitoa bashes into Roberts on the 10 metre line and Wales win the turnover! It’s shipped left and Jonathan Davies takes it into New Zealand territory. Right, then Liam Williams knocks it into touch. Wales begin exactly as they did the first Test, winning the breakdown contest.
PEEEEEP! Jaco “Andres Iniesta” Peyper blows his whistle and Aaron Cruden gets things going.
A warm hello to Steve Busfield, once of this parish.
@DanLucas86 what were Wales thinking when they scheduled a midweek game between two tests against the #AllBlacks?
— Steve Busfield (@Busfield) June 18, 2016
Match sharpness for the squad players, presumably. Obviously this was a terrible idea: Sam Warburton is now playing his third match in eight days in New Zealand.
@DanLucas86 4 Weetabix had a cuppa, twins fed, formula made all done in 50mins, Wales will last about the same, NZ will put 20-25+ on them!
— John McEnerney (@MackerOnTheMed) June 18, 2016
Nice work. It took me an hour and a half to have a coffee, shower and hop on the tube from Tooting Bec to King’s Cross. I imagine if New Zealand only score 25 they’ll be extremely disappointed.
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The players are out for the anthems. Seven Days in the Sun Land of my Fathers is up first, obviously.
Ten minutes until kick-off. Anyone else up yet?
I'm up early ready. Gods speed @WelshRugbyUnion! Come on the boys!
— George North (@George_North) June 18, 2016
Steve Hansen’s turn. “We’ve got to work hard to get the win then it’s about our performance across the board. We’ve got to make sure we’re crisp in our thinking and going from defence to attack and attack to defence. If we can improve there then we’ll be happy.”
Warren Gatland speaks. “The more time we spend together the better we get, we’ve seen that in the past. The thing about playing the All Blacks is they don’t have a B performance. Can they get better? I don’t know but can they bring any more intensity? I think they brought it all last week.”
Steve Hansen has warned Wales that New Zealand will be sharper than they were last week: Wales made 14 line-breaks in their defeat and scored two tries, where as the All Blacks made 13 and scored five (cheers, Ieuan Evans on Sky for that stat). Wales have played an extra game, so will they be together stronger or will the sadness last?*
*This is the cleverest joke I’ve ever written.
This is, according to some, something of a scouting mission for Wales and for Warren Gatland in particular. The Lions go on tour to New Zealand next year but I’m not convinced Gatland is the right man for the job. Anyhow, here’s Paul Rees on Warren’s audition to lead the side again.
Preamble
Morning/afternoon/evening/whatever it is wherever you are, folks. Well, things could be going better if you’re Welsh: as I write this very sentence, Daniel Sturridge has just scored what must be the winner for England [update: it was] in some other sport that’s going on at the moment. And if you’re part of the Welsh rugby setup, things are even worse.
For an hour last Saturday, Wales were outstanding and appeared actually have the measure of New Zealand. They blew the All Blacks out from the breakdown, were blistering on the counterattack and, for 62 minutes, looked like world champion-beaters. Then it all started to go wrong.
There is no shame in being blown away in the final 20 minutes by a fresher side, especially one as good as New Zealand. The difficulty is that they came so close and now have to pick themselves up again: remember when Ireland were denied a win in Christchurch at the death in 2012? Well they lost the next Test 60-0. As for Wales, they made the ill-advised decision to play a midweek tour match, against the Chiefs, lost three squad players to injury, had to field their captain Sam Warburton again and were humiliated 40-7 by the understrength Super Rugby side.
Warren Gatland has shuffled his side slightly, bringing Luke Charteris in from the cold in favour of Bradley Davies, and switching Liam Williams – who was so dangerous from No15 a week ago – out to the wing and picking Rhys Patchell, a fly-half by trade, at full-back. OK, Warren.
As for New Zealand, Luke Romano drops out of the XV to make way for one of the best locks playing the game today, Sam Whitelock. They can also afford to ditch a man who scored his 39th try in 42 Tests in the last match, Julian Savea, in favour of Israel Dagg, who pushes Ben Smith out to the wing.
Kick-off is 8.35am BST, or 7.35pm local time. Good luck with this one, Wales.
New Zealand
Israel Dagg; Ben Smith, Malakai Fekitoa, Ryan Crotty, Waisake Naholo; Aaron Cruden, Aaron Smith; Joe Moody, Dane Coles, Owen Franks, Brodie Retallick, Sam Whitelock, Jerome Kaino, Sam Cane, Kieran Read (capt).
Replacements: Nathan Harris; Wyatt Crockett, Charlie Faumuina, Patrick Tuipulotu, Ardie Savea, TJ Perenara, Beauden Barrett, Seta Tamanivalu.
Wales
Rhys Patchell (Cardiff Blues); Liam Williams (Scarlets), Jonathan Davies (Clermont Auvergne), Jamie Roberts (Harlequins), Hallam Amos (Newport Gwent Dragons); Dan Biggar (Ospreys), Rhys Webb (Ospreys); Gethin Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), Ken Owens (Scarlets), Samson Lee (Scarlets), Luke Charteris (Racing 92), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys), Ross Moriarty (Gloucester), Sam Warburton (Cardiff Blues, capt), Taulupe Faletau (Newport Gwent Dragons).
Replacements Scott Baldwin (Ospreys), Rob Evans (Scarlets), Tomas Francis (Exeter Chiefs), Bradley Davies (Wasps), Ellis Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), Gareth Davies (Scarlets), Rhys Priestland (Bath Rugby), Scott Williams (Scarlets).
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